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Jason Spezza couldn’t stand being the star attraction on the Senators so he’s headed for the Lone Star State.

As first reported by the Sun Tuesday, the Senators kicked off the festivities on July 1 by giving their unhappy captain his wish and sending him packing to the Dallas Stars in a trade that included winger Alex Chiasson.

While the Senators also received prospects Alex Guptill and Nicholas Paul, GM Bryan Murray told reporters late Tuesday afternoon when the dust had settled it was difficult to get fair value.

Instead, he settled for the best deal he could get under the circumstances, and the Sun asked Spezza on a conference call to explain to the people of Ottawa why he wanted out.

“Bryan and I sat down at the end of the season and we had a very frank conversation of where I thought the team was at and where I thought I was at and what I thought was best fit for myself,” said Spezza.

“It was best for me to move on and I think Bryan felt it could help the team to have me move on.

“It was a tough decision and you know how much I’ve liked being there and playing there. I felt like going onto the next chapter of my career. I want to try to win a Stanley Cup and I felt like a change of scenery could help me get there to get to a team where I’m getting to play with some forward depth I’m getting to play with. A decision I felt was tough but a decision I felt I had to help myself.”

So, he didn’t think he could win here?

“It’s a great organization. They have a lot of good pieces and a lot of good players,” said Spezza.

“They have a lot of good young pieces. I felt it was in my bests interests, and mutually for the team, to have move me on. It would help me take another step forward in my career.

“It wasn’t something that came to me easily. You always analyze these things at the end of the season and during different points but it was something I felt I needed a chance to try something else and move on.”

Murray said at the draft in Philadelphia he had “three legitimate offers” that “disappeared as the weekend went on.”

The St. Louis Blues made another offer Monday but signed Paul Statsny in free agency.

Through it all, Dallas GM Jim Nill remained interested.

“You don’t get equal value for a skilled point-getter,” said Murray. “I didn’t want to go through another summer of issues every day. Articles on what we were going to do and what we were going to get.

“Dallas was the one option that I had. Does (the futures in the deal) help us today? Of course not. With Jason Spezza leaving, we have to fill a void now.”

The Senators expected to be more active than they were. Murray is trying to complete a trade that may involve moving a defenceman for a forward. That is close, but not done.

“If it happens I think we’ll be very satisfied with the overall package,” said Murray.

As the second captain to leave in a year behind Daniel Alfredsson, Murray sarcastically indicated maybe the club needs to do a better job picking the candidate to wear the ‘C’.

“We’ve obviously put the C on the wrong people here ... No, I don’t know,” said Murray.

Spezza said taking over for Alfredsson and not being able to handle the tasks that go with the job were not the reason he wanted out.

“The captaincy was a change,” said Spezza. “It wasn’t ideal that we had a down year as a team.

“I feel I’ve been a leader in that room even with Alfie there. That wasn’t my major decision for moving on: Pressure at all.”